Conserving copalillo: The creation of sustainable Oaxacan wood carvings

Most accounts of the effect of the global marketplace on deforestation in Africa, Asia, and Latin America emphasize the demand for timber used in industrial processes and the conversion of tropical forests to pastures for beef cattle. In recent years, numerous scholars and policymakers have suggested that developing a market for non-timber forest products (NTFPs) might slow the pace of habitat destruction. Although increased demand for NTFPs rarely results in massive deforestation, the depletion of the raw materials needed to make particular products is common. Many rural households in the Mexican state of Oaxaca have prospered over the past three decades through the sale of brightly-painted, whimsical wood carvings (alebrijes) to international tourists and the owners of ethnic arts shops in the United States, Canada, and Europe. This paper examines a promising project aimed at providing Oaxacan alebrije-makers with a reliable, legal, and sustainable supply of wood. The ecologists, artisans, merchants, and forest owners involved in the project face formidable obstacles. Gaining permission to harvest wood from land belonging to Oaxacan communities requires the negotiation of a complex social, legal, economic, and political landscape. Artisans’ decisions about where to obtain wood rest largely on price, quality, and reliability of the supplier; they are willing to pay a premium for ecologically sustainable wood only if the additional cost can be passed on to consumers. Nonetheless, a group of carvers has begun to buy sustainably harvested wood. This arrangement has economic advantages for both the alebrije-makers and the owners of the forests where the wood is produced. Michael Chibnik is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Iowa. He has conducted fieldwork in Belize, Peru, Mexico, and in various parts of the United States. His research interests include economic anthropology, artisans, work organization, agricultural decision-making, and political ecology. He is the author of Crafting Tradition: The Making and Marketing of Oaxacan Wood Carvings (University of Texas Press, 2003) and Risky Rivers: The Economics and Politics of Floodplain Farming in Amazonia (University of Arizona Press, 1994), and editor of Farm Work and Fieldwork: American Agriculture in Anthropological Perspective (Cornell University Press, 1987). Dr. Silvia E. Purata is a Mexican ethnoecologist based in Xalapa, Veracruz. She is a member of People and Plants International, an organization that works to integrate conservation and the use of natural resources. Purata has conducted research on the methods indigenous peoples use to extract non-timber forest products (NTFPs) in tropical forests and the fate of such systems in varying socioeconomic circumstances. She has also been working on the promotion of forest certification in the Selva Maya.     

A selective activity-dependent requirement for dynamin 1 in synaptic vesicle endocytosis

Dynamin 1 is a neuron-specific guanosine triphosphatase thought to be critically required for the fission reaction of synaptic vesicle endocytosis. Unexpectedly, mice lacking dynamin 1 were able to form functional synapses, even though their postnatal viability was limited. However, during spontaneous network activity, branched, tubular plasma membrane invaginations accumulated, capped by clathrin-coated pits, in synapses of dynamin 1-knockout mice. Synaptic vesicle endocytosis was severely impaired during strong exogenous stimulation but resumed efficiently when the stimulus was terminated. Thus, dynamin 1-independent mechanisms can support limited synaptic vesicle endocytosis, but dynamin 1 is needed during high levels of neuronal activity.     

Effect of aging on lees and of three different dry yeast derivative products on Verdejo white wine composition and sensorial characteristics

A study was made of the effect of aging on lees and of three different commercial yeast derivative products of different composition and degree of purification on the phenolic compounds, color, proteins, polysaccharides, and sensorial characteristics of white wines. The results obtained showed that the lees and yeast derivative products can interact or adsorb some of the phenolic compounds present in wines, reducing their concentration. This reduction depends on the treatment applied, the phenolic compound analyzed, and the stage of vinification or aging process. The use of lees and yeast derivative products can reduce the color intensity and the browning of the wines immediately following treatment. The monosaccharide and polysaccharide content of yeast derivative products depends on the manufacturing process and degree of purification of the product, both of which have an influence on wine treatments. After 6 months in the bottle, both the aging on lees and the treatment with commercial yeast derivative products gave rise to wines with better sensorial characteristics than in the case of the control wines.     

Mycobacterium microti infection in the cat: a case report, literature review and recent clinical experience

OVERVIEW: Mycobacterium microti infection is infrequently described in cats in the veterinary literature. It can be one of a large number of possible differential diagnoses in a feline patient with dermal nodules and non-healing draining ulcers, and can occasionally spread to involve the lungs and/or other areas of the body. CASE SUMMARY: This report describes the clinical signs, eventual diagnosis and variable response to treatment in a cat in Switzerland with recurrent cutaneous M microti infection. Only after several diagnostic and therapeutic attempts, over more than 2 years, was the species of Mycobacterium finally identified and targeted therapy given. PRACTICAL RELEVANCE: For any cat in which there is even a low suspicion of mycobacterial infection, the authors recommend that an aggressive diagnostic approach is taken. Tissue specimens should be collected and frozen early on, and, as soon as acid-fast bacilli are detected, samples should be sent to a mycobacterial reference laboratory for definitive identification. LITERATURE REVIEW: A review of the literature relating to the aetiopathogenesis, diagnosis and management of M microti infection in cats and dogs is included. This is supplemented with clinical and therapeutic experience gained from this case and other, unpublished cases managed over the past 15 years by one of the authors (DGM).     

Comparative studies of plant and soil analysis for the sulphur status of oilseed rape and winter wheat

Recently S deficiency became one of the most widespread nutrient disorders in North-European agriculture. Therefore precise and reliable methods for the evaluation of the S nutritional status of agricultural crops are required. For the prognosis of the plant available S soil analysis would be a favourite method, however, no relation between plant S concentrations and mobile (extractable sulphate plus extractable organic S) S contents in soils could be stated. The reasons for the impracticability of traditional soil tests seem to be related to interactions between soil water and mobile S in soils, so that site specific models need to be developed for the prognosis of the S status of agricultural crops.     

Reclamation of Polluted Soil: Phytoremediation Potential of Crop-Related BRASSICA Species

Soils polluted by heavy metals can be reclaimed using a number of expensive tactics that either remove the contaminants or stabilize them within the soil. The value of metal accumulating plants for environmental remediation has recently been appreciated and promising results have been obtained. This paper reports a study on the behavior of Brassica napus, Brassica juncea, Raphanus sativus and Brassica carinata grown on a substrate contaminated by several heavy metals caused by the use of contaminated irrigation water. Data on carbon dioxide assimilation, biomass growth and the bioconcentration and translocation factor of each metal in each species were measured. The polluted substrate caused only a small variation in photosynthesis, however transpiration was more affected by the experimental substrate and in all three species of the genus Brassica the presence of metals in the substrate resulted in higher transpiration levels.Two bioconcentration factors were calculated respectively for the roots (BCF) and the shoots (BCF); the BCF was >1 for all the species for Cd, Cu, Ni and Zn without significant differences among species. All the values of BCF were lower than 0.5; among the metals, all Brassica species demonstrated a similar performance for Cd and Zn, whereas for other elements the bioconcentration factor was very low.     

Antioxidants, free radicals, storage proteins, puroindolines, and proteolytic activities in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum) seeds during accelerated aging

Seeds of bread wheat were incubated at 40 degrees C and 100% relative humidity for 0, 3, 4, 6, and 10 days. The effects of accelerated aging on seed germinability and some biochemical properties of flour (carotenoid, free radical, and protein contents and proteolytic activity) and gluten (free radical content and flexibility) were investigated. Seed germinability decreased during aging, resulting in seed death after 10 days. A progressive decrease of carotenoid content, in particular, lutein, was observed, prolonging the incubation, whereas the free radical content increased in both flour and gluten. A degradation of soluble and storage proteins was found, associated with a marked increase of proteolytic activity and a loss of viscoelastic properties of gluten. On the contrary, puroindolines were quite resistant to the treatment. The results are discussed in comparison with those previously obtained during accelerated aging of durum wheat seeds.     

Environmental correlates of two macro-decapods distribution in Central Italy: Multi-dimensional ecological knowledge as a tool for conservation of endangered species

Using a multi-dimensional ecological design, this study aimed first to analyse whether local environmental conditions can account for the spatial segregation of two Italian native decapods, the crayfish Austropotamobius italicus and the river crab Potamon fluviatile, in Central Italy freshwater ecosystems. Second, we aimed to analyse which environmental variables were more closely associated with the presence/absence of the two decapods in specific sites within their distribution area. Following a factorial design, a total of 32 sites were selected in two neighbouring geographic areas, one occupied by crayfish and one by crabs. Within each distribution area, eight streams where the decapod was present and eight where it was not present were selected. At each site, macro-invertebrate community composition and 16 abiotic variables were recorded and analysed with multi-variate methods. Variations in physical (minimum and maximum temperatures), chemical (calcium, oxygen, nitrate and nitrite) and geomorphological (substrate composition) parameters explained spatial segregation of P. fluviatile and A. italicus in the study area. The occurrence of crayfish reflected variations of chemistry (such as pH, calcium, nitrate and nitrite concentrations), temperature, water depth and substrate composition. On the contrary, the presence of the river crab, within its occurrence zone, was not associated to any biotic and abiotic parameters and was probably affected by anthropogenic pressure and uncontrolled harvesting. These findings provide fundamental ecological data for the maintenance of the two decapod natural populations as well as for the selection of areas and streams adequate for their reintroduction.